Thesis (Ph.D.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2007. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter B. Knighton. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-145).

Thesis (I.M.E.S.)--Baylor University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-118).

The ability to quickly and efficiently locate concealed human remains is crucial in forensic investigations and when locating disaster victims. On occasions when human remains are recovered, correctly assigning a postmortem interval (PMI) may become necessary to corroborate statements or make an identification. While Human Remains Detection canines (HRD canines) provide rapid and sensitive searches, the mechanisms behind their sense of smell remain poorly understood. Over the past ten years, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been investigated in an effort to address questions concerning PMI, optimization of training aids, and portable 'sniffing' devices. The approaches taken for investigating VOCs emitted from decomposing tissues buried or otherwise have been diverse. They range from burying entire human bodies and sampling the above-ground volatiles using triple-sorbent traps (TSTs) to isolating small amounts of tissue into glass vials whereby the volatiles are sampled by Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME). The resulting studies have led to large quantities of data that are difficult to interpret and compare between studies. Furthermore, the restrictions surrounding access to human remains have caused many studies to use other animals, (pigs, chickens, cows, and deer) in particular the domestic pig, due to its similarities in hair coverage and tissue ratios. There have been several studies that attempt to address the effects that burial has on the resulting VOCs. However, the addition of a complex matrix to a process that already has many variables has caused difficulty in data interpretation. The purpose of this study was to identify how freezing and the presence of soil affect the VOC profiles of various tissue types (blood, bone, fat, small intestine, muscle, and skin) obtained over six weeks of decomposition. In order to accomplish this, the study was performed in three parts. The first part used fresh pig samples obtained only hours after euthanization, the second part utilized tissues from the same areas of the pig after the samples had been frozen for 6 weeks and the third part combined soil with three of the tissue types (blood, bone, muscle). SPME was employed at room temperature using a 65 µm PDMS/DVB coated fiber as the adsorbent material to extract the VOCs from the headspace. The use of SPME as the extraction method allowed for direct desorption and subsequent analysis into the injection port of the GC/MS. User-defined integration parameters were applied to each resulting chromatogram in an effort to identify what impact, if any, freezing and soil had on the resulting VOC profiles. The results obtained in this study suggest that the freezing and thawing of tissue samples have varying effects on the resulting chromatograms based on the complexity of the tissue-type. This implies that prolonged use and storage of some, commonly utilized, training aids may not be providing the most reliable scent profile for the HRD canines. Results obtained from the soil study were complex, but several overall trends were observed in the release and production of different compound classes. Comparisons to previous studies using similar extraction procedures demonstrate the need for a standardized protocol for future decomposition studies.

M.Tech. (Chemical Engineering) / Increasing pressure on industry from national and international communities for more environmentally friendly operations has generated a drive towards the use of ‘green’ absorbents in the removal of volatile organic compounds from contaminated air streams. The objective of this work was to investigate the use of ester solvents, especially biodiesel esters, as suitable ‘green’ scrubbing solvents for the absorption of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from gaseous waste streams. The objective was accomplished by investigating the nature of molecular interactions between ester solvents and various families of VOC solvents, and by studying the effect of temperature on absorption, through the analysis of infinite dilution activity coefficients. Activity coefficients were computed with a Microsoft Excel generated spread sheet using Modified UNIFAC Dortmund (1987) as a thermodynamic predictive model. Results show that non-polar solutes are more soluble in long chain ester solvents whilst polar solutes absorb easier in short chain ester solvents. The solubility of non-polar solutes decreases with increasing ester solvent unsaturation, whilst the opposite is true for polar solutes in esters. Short chain length non-polar solutes are more soluble than long chain length non-polar solutes in ester solvents, whilst the opposite trend occurs for polar solutes in ester solvents. An increase in branching of polar solutes results in the solute behaving more like a non-polar solute. Unfortunately UNIFAC models fail to account for functional group proximity effects, which may result in inaccurate results for systems involving highly branched solutes. However given that the purpose of this study was only to establish trends for generating an understanding of molecular interactions between the solutes and the solvent, it was acceptable to assume that these inaccuracies would be minor for the intended purpose. It was found that activity coefficients of ester/ solute interactions generally tend towards ideality with increasing temperature with the exception of alkanes and the nitrogen based VOCs, as well as tetrahydrofuran and tetrahydropyran, methacrolein and organic acid/ unsaturated ester interactions. In the case of the alkanes, tetrahydrofuran and tetrahydropyran, high-temperature absorption is preferred whilst for methacrolein lower temperature absorption is preferred. It was concluded that ester solvents ,especially biodiesel esters, are well suited for the removal of non-polar to moderately polar VOC solutes from waste gas streams due to the favourably low activity coefficients obtained for these ester/ solute interactions. The results presented in this report are comprehensive and can assist in making informed decisions in using biodiesel as a scrubbing solvent.

No description available.

In certain European countries and the United States of America, canines have been successfully used in human scent identification. There is however, limited scientific knowledge on the composition of human scent and the detection mechanism that produces an alert from canines. This lack of information has resulted in successful legal challenges to human scent evidence in the courts of law. The main objective of this research was to utilize science to validate the current practices of using human scent evidence in criminal cases. The goals of this study were to utilize Headspace Solid Phase Micro Extraction Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC/MS) to determine the optimum collection and storage conditions for human scent samples, to investigate whether the amount of DNA deposited upon contact with an object affects the alerts produced by human scent identification canines, and to create a prototype pseudo human scent which could be used for training purposes. Hand odor samples which were collected on different sorbent materials and exposed to various environmental conditions showed that human scent samples should be stored without prolonged exposure to UVA/UVB light to allow minimal changes to the overall scent profile. Various methods of collecting human scent from objects were also investigated and it was determined that passive collection methods yields ten times more VOCs by mass than active collection methods. Through the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) no correlation was found between the amount of DNA that was deposited upon contact with an object and the alerts that were produced by human scent identification canines. Preliminary studies conducted to create a prototype pseudo human scent showed that it is possible to produce fractions of a human scent sample which can be presented to the canines to determine whether specific fractions or the entire sample is needed to produce alerts by the human scent identification canines.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Chemistry / unrestricted

No description available.

My research focuses on the development of a novel method for the fast detection of aflatoxin-producing fungi from the volatile organic compounds that they produce. Aflatoxins have received great attention because of their demonstrated potent carcinogenic effect in susceptible laboratory animals and their acute toxicological effects in humans. Traditional detection and quantification techniques are considered time-consuming, high cost, and require technical professionals. The `odor' or so called volatile metabolites released by a fungus is the key for fast detection. Several researchers have reported that diverse fungi species have unique volatile metabolite patterns. This study focuses on answering several questions: Is it possible to discriminate aflatoxins-producing fungi from other fungi based on volatile metabolites? What are the key discriminating biomarkers related to each fungus? Does the growth environment have an effect on the production of volatile metabolites? What chemicals are consistently emitted by a fungus under varied conditions? To answer these questions, one toxigenic and one nontoxigenic A. flavus isolate were studied to evaluate the microbial volatile organic compound (MVOC) profiles. The results described in chapter two of this dissertation indicate that MVOC production is time-dependent and that aflatoxigenic and non-aflatoxigenic strains have different MVOC expression patterns. Chapter three describes the effects of experimental parameters on fungal volatile metabolites. The identity and quantity of MVOCs can be affected by many factors including SPME fiber type, fungal growth media, and growth temperature. A CAR/PDMS coated fiber performed better than the other SPME fibers by collecting a larger variety and quantity of MVOCs. Fungi grown on the chemical defined liquid media produced much larger quantities of MVOCs compared to the other media. The highest MVOC production results were found at 30 degrees Celsius. The fungi discrimination study was extended in chapter four by including 3 toxigenic and 3 non-toxigenic isolates using multivariate analysis. The results indicate that volatile patterns vary even at the fungal isolate level and that discrimination of aflatoxin-producing fungi from non-toxigenic fungi is possible.

Smog events continue to occur in Southern Ontario and maximum ground level ozone concentrations exceed the Canada Wide Standard (CWS). Ontario’s automotive manufacturing sector, while perceived as a significant contributor to volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions (an ozone precursor) at 10 kt per year, contributes only 1.5% of Ontario’s 649 kt annual emissions. Canada’s current VOC guideline for automotive surface coating for new facilities at 55 g/m2 is higher than Europe’s new standard at 45 g/m2 or Germany’s at 35 g/m2. However, Canada’s VOC guideline for automotive surface coating for existing facilities at 55 g/m2 is lower than Europe’s standard at 60 g/m2. Canadian auto manufacturers have made significant reductions since the early 1990’s and are now achieving VOC emissions on average of approximately 36 g/m2. General Motors (GM) new paint shop for its Oshawa Car Plant is expected to achieve VOC emissions of approximately 15 g/m2 in 2006. Therefore, it can be concluded that through a combination of voluntary (Ontario’s Anti Smog Action Plan - ASAP), regulatory (air permitting) and corporate initiatives (emission reduction objectives and common paint shop designs), Ontario’s automotive manufacturers are achieving VOC emission performance found in the most stringent European jurisdiction (Germany), and with new installations (i.e. GM Oshawa Car) will approach the performance of US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Best Available Control Technology (BACT) standards. Considering the above, it is recommended that the Ontario Ministry of the Environment should continue with its current approach of using the ASAP program and air permitting to control VOC emissions from Ontario’s automotive manufacturers. It is also recommended that the Ministry of the Environment consider, in consultation and cooperation with the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) and the automotive manufacturing sector in Ontario, updating the New Source Performance Standards and Guidelines for the Reduction of VOC Emissions from Canadian Automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) Coating Facilities to reflect the current performance of the Ontario automotive manufacturing sector. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)